Rep. Joseph Kennedy met last Friday with advocates concerned about the potential threat to religious exemptions from vaccine mandates posed by Kennedy's H. R. 5272, "Do No Harm Act." John Gilmore, the executive director of the Autism Action Network, Rita Palma, executive director of My Kids My Choice, Del Bigtree, producer of the film Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, and Jack Gilmore, a political science student at nearby Boston College, met with Kennedy to discuss the bill at his Newton, MA office.

Kennedy said that in drafting the bill he had no intention of doing anything that could impact religious exemption rights, and that he was open to further discussion to address concerns about how the bill could be used to affect those rights. Kennedy extended an invitation to meet immediately after the Autism Action Network issued an alert about the bill. Such responsiveness from a member of the House is highly unusual.

We will continue to engage with Kennedy and other members of the House to assure that H.R. 5272, if passed, will not endanger religious exemption rights.

If you support this effort to protect your religious exemptions rights please make it possible for the Autism Action Network to continue to do so by donating online to our annual fundraising drive we are conducting in conjunction with the Autism Community Walk at: